


win a battle, lose a war

by evergreen_melancholy



Series: past futures [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Game Spoilers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 19:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12115572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evergreen_melancholy/pseuds/evergreen_melancholy
Summary: “Are you thinking about Zacharias again?”It’s not a question. Alfonse's face presses into a hard line and then softens into a sad expression and Sharena feels for him, just a little bit.





	win a battle, lose a war

**Author's Note:**

> After Chapter 13 of the game, I just had to write something with Alfonse and Zacharias/Bruno! Just a first experimental work, set in Sharena's POV. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Fire Emblem is not mine!

“I’ve told you before, Sharena,” Alfonse starts, voice heavy with a type of bitterness that Sharena hasn’t heard in years. “Heroes are _not_ friends. Only our allies. Don’t get close to them.”

 

She almost rolls her eyes—her older brother was always stubborn with letting outsiders into their matters, and that happening only made it worse. Alfonse just didn’t _get_ it.

 

“Oh, you,” she says fondly, shaking her head. Alfonse shoots her an icy glare that she ignores pointedly. “Don’t be prickly. You think that only because you were once very close to a Hero. And _THAT_ one left to go home.”

 

Kiran’s head perks up a little, and Sharena already feels the summoner’s curiosity leaking out from under their cloak. Alfonse notices too, and Sharena notices him grip his sword a little tighter.

 

“ _Enough_ , Sharena,” he barks out, treading away with harsh, loud steps that whip up bits of dust.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Sharena sees Kiran give her a concerned look. The summoner gestures to Alfonse’s retreating figure and then back to Sharena frantically, and Sharena simply chuckles. She places a hand on Kiran’s shoulder, comforting the poor worrywart.

 

“It’s a past thing he hasn’t gotten over yet,” she says. Kiran looks like they don’t believe her. “Trust me, he’ll be okay. You should make your way back to the castle, though. Surely there’ll be more missions to prepare for.”

 

Kiran nods, and then departs with Anna. Sharena watches their figures retreat for a while, crosses her arms across her chest, and sighs.

 

“Well, am I right or not?” She says to no one in particular, thinking of times when Alfonse was happier, when Alfonse was kinder—when Alfonse was not shedding tears at night every time an old memory comes to mind.

 

*

 

As expected, by the time Sharena returns to the castle, Kiran informs her worriedly that her older brother has already ordered all of his retainers out of his room ( _ahh,_ Sharena thinks _—he has already begun stage 1 of one of his moods_ ) and she waves off Kiran lazily, promising the summoner that their Askran Prince will be better in no time. She heads to her room, sheds her armor, takes a nice soak in the bath, enjoys a light dinner, and makes her way to her older brother’s room.

 

“Alfonse?” She tries softly, ear against the cold metal of the door. No sound comes from within. _So that’s how it is today,_ Sharena thinks _. It’s alright. She has time._

 

“Alfonse,” she says a little louder. She raps the door once, twice, three times—still nothing.

 

“Oh my god,” Sharena huffs. “Guess I’ll resort to a public disturbance.”

 

She cracks her knuckles one by one, clears her throat, and raises both hands against the door. Just when she’s about to open her mouth and slam her fists against the door, it swings open. Sharena is almost caught by surprise.

 

“Good evening, _Your Highness_ ,” she says, making sure to make her voice extra nasally.

 

“What do you want,” Alfonse snaps back. He sounds tired.

 

“Why’re you so prickly today,” Sharena pouts, but enters his room anyways. Her brother’s bed is neatly made and bigger than hers, so of course she has to sit on it and rumple the covers. It’s the sibling rule. “I’m here to turn that frown upside-down!”

 

Alfonse says nothing. He closes the door and turns around, eyeing Sharena warily. She smiles back at him and pats the spot next to her.

 

“If I sit next to you, will you leave faster?” He says tiredly.

 

“Of course,” Sharena lies. She feels the weight in the bed shift as Alfonse settles himself, and she turns to look at him. She cuts to the chase immediately.

 

“Are you thinking about Zacharias again?”

 

It’s not a question, and she knows that Alfonse knows that as well. His face presses into a hard line and then softens into a sad expression and Sharena feels for him, just a little bit.

 

“Do you want him to come back?” She says softly—carefully. She’s in dangerous territory right now, but if she wants her older brother to recover, then she has to take baby steps.

 

“It’s not a matter of what I want,” Alfonse says quietly.

 

“Of course it is,” Sharena says softly. “He was your best friend. Anyone would want their best friend back. If my best friend left, even I—“

 

“He wasn’t my best friend,” Alfonse says. The bitter tone from earlier is back, and Sharena winces at it. “Zacharias—he was—he— _it just_ —“

 

“It’s okay,” she says. One of her hands begins to rub small circles into her brother’s back, and she’s glad to see the tension in his body lessen a little.

 

“ _I_ just,” he chokes out, and Sharena’s heart breaks a little at the way her brother’s voice cracks.

 

“I just miss him a lot,” he finishes. Sharena sees the way his eyes get a little red-rimmed and sees the tremble in his hands—hears the longing in his voice, the bitterness when he says “ _Zacharias_ ”—

 

She understands. She always had, even back then.

 

“ _You loved him_ ,” she whispers, and Alfonse nods. “ _And he loved you_.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she says softly, and gently pulls him into a hug. They stay like that for a while, Alfonse crying into her shoulder as she mumbles strings of comfort and reassurance.

 

“I loved him so much,” Alfonse sobs out. Sharena resumes rubbing small circles into his back, and wonders where things went wrong between her older brother and his precious friend.

 

“I know,” is all she can say.

 

*

 

Sharena, above all others, is a person of mercy. She despises looking down on others and despises those who do such a thing—forgiveness is in her nature and she is a person who simply seeks to understand; to appreciate.

 

However, above all others, Sharena is a younger sister—one that is fiercely protective of her older brother. Even in situations where her friends are in danger, she does not hesitate to throw her life on the line if it means saving another—which is why this—

 

This matter—this confusion—

 

This _pain_ —

 

The pain her precious brother _endured_ , the pain he kept to himself---

 

_“Prince Bruno, of the Emblian Empire…I ask you now…”_

 

All the smiles he lost, all the sleepless nights in bed—

 

_“Are you…Zacharias?”_

 

This, Sharena cannot forgive. Not now—not in the future—not ever.

 

_She only hopes that Alfonse can do the same._

 

 


End file.
